Guy Owen (February 24, 1925 – July 25, 1981) was a professor of English who produced many different types of literary works.
He was born in Clarkton,
Bladen County, North Carolina
Bladen County () , from the North Carolina Collection's website at the , and grew up on a tobacco farm. Although his college education was interrupted by three years as an Army private in Europe during World War II, he ultimately earned his bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees at the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC, UNC–Chapel Hill, or simply Carolina) is a public university, public research university in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States. Chartered in 1789, the university first began enrolli ...
. Although he never returned there to live, his Depression-era boyhood in the Cape Fear region, spent accompanying his grandfather to auctions and clerking at his father's general store, informed his writing, providing him with a lifetime of material for his fiction and poetry.
In the years between earning his M.A. and his Ph.D., Owen taught briefly at
Davidson College
Davidson College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Davidson, North Carolina, United States. It was established in 1837 by the Concord Presbytery and named after American Revolutiona ...
and Elon College. During a four-year stint as an associate professor at
Stetson University
Stetson University is a private university in DeLand, Florida, United States. Established in 1883 as DeLand Academy, it was later renamed John B. Stetson University in honor of John B. Stetson.
The university's main campus in DeLand spans 175 ...
in Florida, he published his first poetry collection, and founded ''Impetus'', the literary magazine which would evolve into the ''Southern Poetry Review''. In 1960, he published his first novel, ''Season of Fear'', a Depression-era story set in a rural community. The story of one man's struggle between religion and sex was critically well received, but its seriousness left Owen ready to write some lighter fiction. ''The Ballad of the Flim-Flam Man'' follows the comic adventures of an aging confidence man and his young AWOL sidekick in a thinly fictionalized Bladen County. Mordecai Jones and the guitar playing Curley Treadaway were to become two of Owen's favorite characters. The book was made into a movie in 1967 ('' The Flim-Flam Man'') starring
George C. Scott
George Campbell Scott (October 18, 1927 – September 22, 1999) was an American actor. He had a celebrated career on both stage and screen. With a gruff demeanor and commanding presence, Scott became known for his portrayal of stern but complex ...
, and the characters reappeared in two more books to "con" the greedy and gullible who only get what they deserve. The 1970 novel '' Journey for Joedel'' won the Sir Walter Raleigh Award for best work of fiction by a North Carolinian.
In 1962, Owen took a position at
North Carolina State University
North Carolina State University (NC State, North Carolina State, NC State University, or NCSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. Founded in 1887 and p ...
. He continued over the years to publish stories and poems. His collection ''The White Stallion and Other Poems'' won a Roanoke-Chowan cup for poetry by a North Carolina poet. He co-edited several anthologies of state and regional verse, lectured and conducted workshops across the state for writers of all levels, participated in the "poetry in the schools" program, and directed the North Carolina Poetry Circuit, which brought together poets and college students.
As a writer and teacher of writing, Guy Owen adhered to two principles. The first was specificity: "Never write 'flower': write '
rose
A rose is either a woody perennial plant, perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred Rose species, species and Garden roses, tens of thousands of cultivar ...
chrysanthemum
Chrysanthemums ( ), sometimes called mums or chrysanths, are flowering plants in the Asteraceae family. They are native to East Asia and northeastern Europe. Most species originate from East Asia, and the center of diversity is in China. Co ...
.'" The second was "Make your reader comfortable," meaning that a writer should give enough information in a clear style to enable the reader to easily enter the writer's world. Owen's many honors include a Bread Loaf Scholarship, the Henry H. Bellamann Foundation Award, a Yaddo Fellowship, and the 1971 gold medallion North Carolina Award for Literature.
Owen died of liver cancer in Rex Hospital in
Raleigh, North Carolina
Raleigh ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, second-most populous city in the state (after Charlotte, North Carolina, Charlotte) ...
, at the age of 56.
Books and editorships
* ''The Ballad of the Flim-Flam Man''. New York: Macmillan, 1965.
* ''Cape Fear Country, and Other Poems''. Lake Como, Florida: New Athenaeum Press, 1958.
* ''Contemporary Poetry of North Carolina''. Edited with Mary C. Williams. Winston-Salem: John F. Blair, 1977.
* ''The Flim-Flam Man & the Apprentice Grifter''. New York: Crown Publishers, 1972.
* ''Journey for Joedel''. New York: Crown. 1970.
* ''Modern American Poetry: Essays in Criticism''. DeLand, Florida: Everett/Edwards, 1972.
* ''New Southern Poets: Selected Poems from Southern Poetry Review.'' Edited with Mary C. Williams. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1974.
* ''Season of Fear''. New York: Random House, 1960.
* ''Southern Poetry Review''. Edited 1958–1977.
* ''Southern Poetry Review: A Decade of Poems''. Editor. Raleigh: Southern Poetry Review Press, 1969.
* ''The White Stallion and Other Poems''. Winston-Salem: John F. Blair, 1969.
Owen has had appearances in periodicals, including ''New East'', ''Southern Literary Journal'', ''Southern World'', ''Tar Heel'', and numerous poetry journals.
Southern Historical Collection
The Southern Historical Collection is a repository of distinct archival collections at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill which document the culture and history of the American South. These collections are made up of unique primary mat ...